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An excellent all in one printer for a great price, would recommend!!

I bought this printer from Wilkinsons just over two years ago when I started university. I needed something which was easy to use and would be long lasting, with replacement ink that wasn't overly expensive.

Design -The all in one printer is an excellent size, much smaller than any of the all in one's I'd previously seen which was great. It is simple in design; grey and black in colour with the simple to use control buttons to the side of the scanner.

Printing -It is very easy to print using this all in one. To do so, you simply plug the usb cable into your laptop or computer and click print on your computer. It could not be more simple! The printing quality is brilliant, and the speed at which is prints is fairly quick. I find that it prints even my favourite photographs perfectly with very accurate colours. The ink in the cartridges for this printer also last quite a long time, I printed enough photos to fill a 2m x 1.5m board on my wall as well as some for a friend, along with around 20 essays. (and probably more that I'm forgetting!) Another bonus is that the printer isn't really noise like many others can be - it does make noise, but nowhere near as loud as my last printer!!

Scanning -The scanner is also very easy to operate through the controls on your computer. It picks up every detail of the pages that I have scanned and show them on my screen at a high quality. I was very impressed with both the quality, how easy it was to do and the little time that it took to do.

Copying - To copy, all you have to do is place the item you want to copy in the scanner and press either the black button or the colour button; ta da! a copied printed image of the item in the scanner.

Overall - This is by far the best all in one printer that I have ever used; it's so simple to use and gives such high quality images in both copying and printing from a computer. It is an excellent printer for a very reasonable price. I would recommend it to everyone!!

Tips - The ink cartridges you buy for this printer can actually be refilled. I bought a set of ink refils on ebay and now simply refill my original cartridges to save money (because I'm a poor student, don't judge me!). This is very easy to do if you find that you struggle to pay for new ink cartridges, but the quality does become affected by this a little.

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An All-in-One that actually works when you need it and doesn't dry out with infrequent use

The state of the All-in-One printer market has been annoying me recently. Over the past 6 months I have gone through 3 All-in-One. I went for bargin basement models as I thought they would be most economical. I was wrong.

Recently I needed a printer for my niece so I decided to go for a slightly more expensive model. I have been let down by Epson and Lexmark so I went for the Canon MP270 as it was on offer in Tesco. This printer seems to fit the bill so far.

The installation was fine, the quality of the print outs are fine. The price of replacement ink is around £30 per set so it isn't linked to the price of gold as with some other printers. The ink doesn't dry out if not used for a while. I think this is a very important point because the majority of printers that I have used recently dry up if not used frequently. This means you have to replace the ink cartridges even when they are half full. Very annoying. I haven't really tested the scanning and copying features so can't comment on them.

Overall I am quite impressed with the Canon MP270 as it does what it is supposed to do and does it well. It has printed out my nieces homework when she needs it and just works when required. I think this is all the majority of people need.

Finally my niece likes it when the output tray automatically opens when required! She says its cool!

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For anyone looking for a printer, this is the one to get

I purchased this printer back in April and have used it extensively since printing out lots of pages of work, and many photos.

This printer will do everything you need it to, Print, Copy, Scan etc, and to a decent quality.

- PRINTINGThis device prints quickly and to a high standard, and the photos it prints (especially on the Canon Photopaper) looks truly superb. Photos are of exquisite high quality and you can truly see every detail. Normal paper printouts are too of good quality, even with photos on them. The device prints quickly and also reasonably quietly.

- SCANNINGI have used the scanner on this device many times, and it produces some really high detail stuff. The scanner is quick, though the software included isn't very straight forward at explaining how to scan in a document. I found it much easier to use Microsoft Clip Organiser to operate the device.

- COPYINGCopying is so easy on this printer, simply put your document into the tray, and press either the Black or Colour button on the top to produce you a photocopy of the page. The scanner quickly runs across the page and then a printout is produced. You can't get much simpler than this.

Ink cartridges can be fairly expensive for the printer, i pay around £35+. Though it is worth it because of the high quality printer this is. It is a good solid build too, not a flimsy lump of rubbish which i saw in the shops at the time i brought this. Canon is a good make, and it shows with this product.

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Good and capable 3 in 1 cheap priced Canon but ink tanks pricey!

When I moved back to the city to fulfil a short term contract employment that started with three months and has continually be extended I didn't want to take everything with me that sits in my own office. Purchased in March 2008 my HP 2180 at £29-50 from John Lewis was my first foray in the world of cheap 3 in 1 printers and the HP model has been a great all rounder despite some software issues and paper loading problems due to its compact design. However, the functions began to annoy me, the build quality was iffy and it was on its way out. After some research, the Canon MP270 looks like a good replacement.

** This is a long review! **

Despite remaining cost conscious I've always been a big fan of Canon products but they've seldom been a company who are price competitive let alone bargain budget marketed. We're all living in hard times which is probably why Canon have now realised they must compete with budget brands such as Lexmark and HP and the kind of printer scanner machine I need is something I'm not going to use every day. I'm not the type of buyer however who often hooks onto looks but the Canon Pixma MP270 seems to have a rather lovely look due to its glossy cream finish (less dusting!) and I was also attracted by its £59-95 price, again at John Lewis stores. Over the HP printer, the Canon Pixma MP270 has Canon's own PictBridge photo-printing software built in and along with my Canon compact camera, has been an absolute boon to use even though you don't specifically need to own a same brand camera to take full advantage. The same coloured beige buttons are well labelled in greys, greens and orange colours with an option of stickers in the box to change the names into several European languages including Arabic and Chinese. An LED panel also shows printing progress as well as basic indications when the Canon is in use. What I didn't appreciate though was the lack of a spare USB to Computer cable and had to buy an extra cord from John Lewis for initial use. Thankfully Canon do equip the machine with a plug/power cord!

Granted that most printers these days try to out do the next or the last I was positively delighted to find that this Canon has an independent plug and play type facility from the moment you install into a PC or Mac. It comes with a driver CD disc rom as well as USB 2.0 as standard although you may need to update it once your computer becomes live with Internet. This is especially important if you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 although I haven't read any problems online from buyers who have these systems running concurrently with the Canon Pixma MP270. Canon's Australian site however have several drivers that can be uploaded which is good if you lose your disc! On my MAC however I've had no problems whatsoever with uploading the driver. Luckily there were no updates needed when I installed the disc and the usual routine of registering and updates can be optionally done at a later date.

Over the cheap and cheerful HP 2180 the Canon Pixma MP270 has a very similar feel to it in terms of its instant accessibility but the quality and ease of use is a lot better. This may well have something to do with the fact that it is a heavy machine at nearly 6kg. You don't need to go through the rigmarole however of accessing a printing driver or program just to start up the printer, simply switch it on and if you need something photocopied open the floating lid, insert the paper in, fill the paper in at the top like an old fashioned printer and hit a button to scan and then print. There are further helpful options such as using the PictBridge software to print images from your camera, video camera or simply a camera mobile phone too! This procedure is like the HP 2180 but the Canon's finer details make user practicality that little bit better. One advantage for its sole reason being marketed towards students is a self-opening door if you forget to open it when asking the printer to print something. The door opens weakly and reveals a secondary paper suspension holder to ensure paper printed doesn't get crushed when it finally emerges. Whilst I appreciate the design input, I'm not keen on its function as the door bounces a lot when the paper is pushed out and over time could render the hinges long term with possible breakages to the door seals. The HP 2180 however will refuse to print paper unless you manually open the door as well as having a few frustrating problems.

For example paper loading in the HP2180 was a bit of trial and patience, often the feeders that hook onto the paper when loading in sometimes never takes the paper on and HP are famous for space saving when putting loading paper in on the same area that the printed /final product emerges. The Pixma MP270 allows you to put paper at the top and it comes out at the bottom, mirroring older printers or fax machines; so much easier here and a lot trustworthier. Even if it takes up a little more space and in terms of space efficiency the Pixma MP270 is bulkier than the compact and neat HP. It is very wide and long at 45cm with a diameter of approximately 34cm and a height of 15cm. Thus you'll need at least 5" to 8" of height where the Pixma MP270 is placed so you can access the scanner lid never mind insert paper at the top.

When it comes to scanning, the Pimxa MP270 has a suitable yet efficient fast speed giving the owner options to choose between usual standard features such as draft, main document or Auto scan. Nothing different to the HP 2180 in this respect but I do appreciate that it takes a faster time for the scanner to complete general projects and the scanner has a reasonable output of 1200dpi which at best serves a basic level of scanning quality over Canon's own price competitive scanners alone. Oversized books and bigger than A4 sheets are easily accommodated in the Pixma MP270 scanner though much better than the HP 2180 largely down to its physical size of its lid and much better quality floating hinges built in. The Pixma MP270 can only however accommodate A4 sized paper through its printer feeder.

When it comes to printing, according to Canon the Pixma MP270 has a fast and efficient procedure managing to print at 4.8 images per minute for colour and 8.4 images per minute for black ink printing only. It also only takes 4 seconds for the Fast Copy program if it is selected over the standard option. Have I timed it exactly to coincide with Canon's actual testing? No, but on the basis that it takes me 15 minutes to walk to my bus stop I've printed a whole A4 book of 60 pages in less than 2 minutes before walking out the door! Over the HP this is incredibly fast (10 to 12 minutes) although I do suggest turning the printer on once it is connected to your PC/Mac or laptop for the systems to detect each other.

With a maximum resolution of 4800dpi the printing is identical to the quality on the HP2180 but I was delighted to find that when printing out photos, all photos are grain free and have good colour detail compared to the greyness I've experienced with HP's 2180 model. The options for the photo "shop" software onboard are simply amazing and I found the PictBridge software ingeniously easy to access with a very helpful drop down menu and further options to access help online. I've actually found the Pixma MP270's PictBridge software a heck of a lot easier to understand and function than the older software that came with my Canon camera! Thus it isn't surprising to find that the Pixma MP270 user manual itself is well worded and consists of 33 pages with multi languages printed along with English. Canon's software also hooks on a tool bar permanently to web pages, which instantly allows me to print off a web page simply by clicking on a single button. This has been an absolute boon printing off research notes for school rather than reviews!

Changing tanks revert to the same procedure as my parents bigger office Epson RX620, showing at least that Canon are well aware of what buyers could expect if they have used 3 in 1 machines before and want similar procedures. Unlike my HP 2180 where the tanks can be replaced underneath in the same paper loading area and sitting in a rather feeble holder, the Canon's lid can be lifted up in an instant bringing the whole assembly upwards and allocation to the printer guns have a lot more space to move around with. Again quality is something that is a bit better than the HP2180 and I'm delighted to find how easy it is to change tanks.

This is where the downsides come up rather immediately. The cost prices, for the moment are high for the colour tanks and black ink. Similar to HP's "tri-color," type tanks, Canon's ink cartridges are similar in the options available but they have something called "ChromaLife 100 Plus," built in that simply reverts to longer lasting ink. When I purchased the printer at John Lewis in August I also purchased a colour ink that cost me £19.95 and a further single ink cartridge at around £10. I'm still on the original tanks however and the Canon gets used once or twice a week for large printing and scanning projects. I guess I'm lucky that I've printed more than 500 pages colour or black ink, but I've been largely impressed by the longevity of the ink on board. Evidently if you shop online for Canon's ink cartridges or shop around prices can drop, but I haven't found much price differences yet when checking at Tesco or other high street shops for example. Compared to my other printer scanner however the MP270 seems to have a longer lasting ink procedure where if the printer isn't needed in long term use, the print cartridges won't dry up.